Service Leadership

The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive theoretical framework as well as practical strategies—not just for survival but for a true search for excellence in the uncertain and ever-changing world of customer service management. The theoretical framework is based on the notion that customer service contains three key variables: a promise, a process, and people. After going through the step-by-step process of service management, the reader will have the necessary understanding and skill to choose the right strategy for the right circumstances, to design service processes, to identify the means and methods to implement these processes, and to measure the outcome.

How can leadership in service economies be developed and nurtured? This issue is of the utmost importance, because the mode of production and requirements of the leaders are different in manufacturing and service economies. While the focus in manufacturing industries is on do things right, the focus of services economies is on do the right things. In this book, the authors start out with the Service Leadership Model as well as the ingredients for Service Leadership knowledge, attitude and behaviors (i.e., skills). Second, psychometric properties of three validated measures on Service Leadership knowledge, attitude and behavior are presented. In these chapters, the internal consistency, convergent validity and factorial validity of the measures are presented. Third, the psychosocial correlates and norms associated with these three measures of Service Leadership are presented. Through these chapters, the authors attempt to establish the psychometric properties and norms of the scales assessing Service Leadership knowledge, attitude and behavior. It is their humble wish that the related work and the developed assessment tools can be used in the training, personnel decisions, intervention and research contexts.

Professional development and leadership with you in mind A good friend once said about Chase Sargent that he’s “a very intelligent man, but he sure does tick people off sometimes.” Sargent doesn’t disagree. He may have made some people mad, but he wishes he had done it more often to get this point across: “Leadership—in all aspects of life—is sorely lacking.” The second edition of From Buddy to Boss: Effective Fire Service Leadership reinforces the fact that the fire service is screaming for leaders as men and women discover that leadership is important to their existence and success. Being a firefighter can be tiring and frustrating, but it can be rewarding. It’s not only about the job, “but also about raising kids, managing your life, and trying to be a good person, attached to God, country, family, and friends,” says the author. Many leaders today are surrounded by external politics, hidden agendas, fiscal constraints, and manipulative people. Consider these factors when navigating your career. Sargent knows from decades of experience that simply reaching the top of the organizational ladder does not make you a good leader. Before he went into teaching this subject, “It became apparent very quickly that the leadership and human resources training being provided was as scarce as water in a desert and that the fire service was thirsty.” This new second edition includes must-read topics on leadership lessons from the War in Iraq, knowing death in the fire service, and providing leadership in large-scale disasters. This book will change your life.

“BR> What will motivate an organization’s employees to be fully engaged in the corporate purpose? How can a company be more supportive of each individual’s pursuit of workplace meaning? Service Leadership answers these questions and more. “Service leadership” is the recognition and cultivation of the varied interests and beliefs of employees on their quest for purpose at work. An organization will not get the most out of its staff unless it respects each individual’s framework for the pursuit of meaning, which is often done in the context of spirituality and religion. Service leadership takes many forms and is not the same for everyone. People can and want to learn how to become service leaders. Service Leadership shows how these ideas can be implemented through a detailed framework. Extensive research confirms that organizations that do not address the existing core belief systems of employees will be disadvantaged in the marketplace. Interviews with top executives at organizations like Whole Foods, Facebook, Gloria Jean’s Coffee, and Costco shed light on how both companies and employees can utilize service leadership to find and keep meaning in the workplace, improving both job happiness and performance.

Service Leadership offers students, researchers, and leaders a leadership model originating in the service economy – but which is gaining ground in all sectors and industries – explained by experts that were key actors in that origination at DHL International. Designed for undergraduates and graduates but also useful for professionals in leadership positions, Hoshmand and Chung structure the book around the 3Cs of leadership in the service economy: Competence, Character, and Care. It shows how the integration of the 3Cs when applied in combination with each other creates an environment of trust within and outside the organization. Most importantly, it allows the reader to understand how a move from the manufacturing mindset (hierarchical decision making) to a service mindset (collective, qualitative, culturally sensitive) creates an ethical habitat and ecosystem that contributes to a firm’s competitiveness and adds value to its brand image. Incorporating elements of leadership literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, and political science, including cases, and supported by a teaching manual and a full set of slides, this book is ideal core reading for students of service leadership and leadership in the service economy, and valuable to those learning about leadership more broadly.

This book is an introduction to servant leadership. The author argues that servant leadership is ethical, practical, and meaningful. He cites the universal importance of service, defines servant leadership, compares the power model of leadership with the service model, describes some key practices of servant-leaders, explores the meaningful lives of servant-leaders, and offers questions for reflection and discussion. The new second edition of the book provides additional quotations and examples; summaries of scholarly definitions of servant leadership and research on the impacts of servant leadership in the workplace; an appendix on servant leadership compared with other ideas or theories of leadership; and a list of sources for those who wish to explore servant leadership further.

From the author of The One-Minute Manager, a guide to leading others by serving them, featuring advice and tools from real-life leadership experts. We’ve all seen the negative impact of self-serving leaders in every sector of our society. Not infrequently, they end up bringing down their entire organization. But there is another way: servant leadership. Servant leaders lead by serving their people, not by exalting themselves. This collection features forty-four renowned servant leadership experts and practitioners—prominent business executives, bestselling authors, and respected spiritual leaders—who offer advice and tools for implementing this proven, but for some still radical, leadership model. Edited by legendary business author and lifelong servant leader Ken Blanchard and his longtime editor Renee Broadwell, this is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging guide ever published for what is, in every sense, a better way to lead. “Renowned expert Ken Blanchard with Renee Broadwell have assembled the insights of dozens of successful leaders in their new book Servant Leadership In Action. I doubt you will find any book or course on leadership that delivers a more on-target message of the essential element critical to being a truly great leader. Get a copy. Read it. Be it.” —Miami Herald “A comprehensive and inspiring book presented as a servant leadership primer, action plan and how-to guide, then concludes with proof of effectiveness and inspiration to go forward. The wide-ranging yet related topics covered in Servant Leadership In Action is part of what makes the book so valuable. I am sure it will quickly become a must-have resource for leaders, both emerging and established.” —Being Fully Present

The fundamental question in business and in personal life is the same: what really matters? In this book, one of America's most widely admired business leaders distills a lifetime of experience, including failures as well as successes, to reveal his answers. John Pepper, president, CEO, and chairman of Proctor & Gamble for a combined 16 years, underscores the importance of continuous change, innovation, and renewal as prerequisites for growth and sound leadership. In "What Really Matters", he suggests that a preparedness to alter perspective, rethink assumptions, or change course is central not only to understanding customer needs and keeping costs under control but also to developing talent, organizing global businesses, and supporting communities. While he discusses specific business tactics, he notes that they all centre on fundamental tenets: listen to and respect the customer, engender personal accountability and passionate ownership, encourage diversity, and create a vibrant, trusting institution that incorporates employees and their families. In his own years as an executive, Pepper has demonstrated that a profitable business can create and sustain a culture that shapes, and is shaped by, ethical behaviour. His profoundly important advice and counsel belong in the lexicon and practice of every leader.